Unexpected Benefit of Coffee During Pregnancy: "So That's Why My Child...?"

A domestic study has found an association suggesting that children born to mothers who consumed a moderate amount of coffee during pregnancy had a lower risk of developing atopic dermatitis. However, the researchers and other experts also stressed that this should not be interpreted as evidence to actively recommend coffee consumption during pregnancy.

Yonhap News reported on February 21 that a research team led by Professor Kim Ijoon of the Department of Environmental Medicine at Ewha Womans University College of Medicine recently published the analysis results of the "Korean Children’s Environmental Health Study (Ko-CHENS)" in the latest issue of the Journal of the Korean Society of Medical Informatics.

The research team followed the health status of 3,252 mother-child pairs recruited between 2015 and 2019 for three years. They were divided into three groups: "coffee cessation" (1,809 people), "less than one cup per day" (1,225 people), and "one or more cups per day" (188 people). As a result, they found a trend in which the risk of atopic dermatitis was lower among children whose mothers consumed an appropriate amount of coffee during pregnancy.

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In the group that drank less than one cup of coffee per day during pregnancy, the risk of atopic dermatitis in their children was 11% lower than in the group that did not drink coffee. In the group that consumed one or more cups per day, a 9% lower risk was also observed, but this association did not reach statistical significance.

No clear association was found between coffee consumption and other allergic diseases such as asthma and allergic rhinitis. The researchers suggested that antioxidants and anti-inflammatory effects contained in coffee, as well as changes in the gut microbiome environment, may have influenced the fetal immune development process.

At the same time, the researchers clearly pointed out the limitations of an observational study. They explained that causality cannot be determined, as various factors such as the type of coffee, extraction method, and accompanying dietary habits may not have been fully accounted for. The research team stated, "This is the first domestic birth cohort analysis to show that moderate coffee consumption during pregnancy may be related to a reduced risk of atopic dermatitis in infancy," but added, "Further studies are needed to confirm causality."

Experts emphasize that managing the total amount of caffeine is more important than whether pregnant women drink coffee or not. This is because caffeine is also present in green tea, chocolate, cola, and other products, and individual metabolic capacity varies. Multiple studies and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) have taken the position that if daily caffeine intake during pregnancy is limited to 200 mg or less, the risk of miscarriage or preterm birth does not increase significantly.

Professor Han Jungyeol of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Ilsan Paik Hospital told Yonhap News, "Since pregnant women consume caffeine through various foods, managing the total intake is most important," and advised, "Although recommendations differ slightly, keeping it at 200 mg or less per day is the most realistic guideline."

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